


Complete Deniability

by 3hourlunch



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28310484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3hourlunch/pseuds/3hourlunch
Summary: Takes place slightly before Basic Human AnatomyWhen Troy’s feelings for Abed become hard to ignore, his internalized homophobia causes him to try to mask his feelings with a relationship but Troy finds that being in a relationship has only made things worse.
Relationships: Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Annie Edison (platonic), Troy Barnes/Britta Perry
Comments: 16
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably make sure to warn about there being lots of internalized homophobia in this piece.  
> Also I really hope I stayed true to the characters let me know how I did and how I can improve :) thank you for taking time to read my work.

There were times where Troy just had to ask himself, “What the hell am I doing?”

He knew he was lying to himself, but he also figured that if he just kept lying to himself about lying to himself then eventually it wasn’t lying anymore. At least that's how he justified it in his head. But Troy had a secret, and he wanted more than anything not to let it out. He knew people would make fun of him. He felt that if he even so much as admitted to it, he would likely explode on the spot. But as much as he denied denied denied, nothing could stop him from thinking about it.

He was in love with his best friend.

He was in love with Abed Nadir, and he couldn’t make it go away.

He found himself having a recurring dream of confessing his love before Abed was eaten by zombies. It started soon after Halloween their sophomore year and he found himself repeating that dream almost once a week since. He did not understand where the dream came from, but he had it so frequently he tried to look up the meaning of dreams with love and zombies. But he never understood what Google would tell him.

Troy didn’t know what to do. He just told himself, “He’s just my best friend, I love him as a friend,” but as many times as he repeated that in his head throughout the years he knew friends don’t fantasize about kissing one another, they don’t dream of spending the rest of their life together, they don’t stay up at night thinking…

“But I’m straight,” Troy told himself. He was the star quarterback in high school, he did sports, he dated and had sex with girls. These were all things he reminded himself of on a daily basis. But none of this changed his feelings.

He figured being gay, or bi, or whatever would discredit everything he had built himself up to be. Everything that defined him as a person. But the longer he knew Abed, the more he questioned if he even knew anything about himself at all. He had learned so much about himself and the world since knowing Abed. He learned to embrace parts of himself that he never would’ve imagined in high school. So maybe Abed being in his life was also helping him embrace his sexuality. Troy wanted everything to just be simple. I didn't want to have to prove anything to anyone, he didn't want girls to be the number one topic of conversation with nearly every guy his age, he just wanted to watch movies with Abed. But watching movies with Abed meant looking over at him whenever a passionate kiss happened on screen, getting flushed whenever Abed critiques the inadequacies of the sex scene that always snuck its way into the movies they watched, spending more attention to the way Abed would mouth the words of his favorite movies or the way his facial expressions ever so slightly changed when Abed was forming opinions on each director choice. But friends don't think like that and Troy knew that if he admitted to loving Abed as more than a friend, everything would just get ten times as complicated.

Sometimes Troy would spend hours sitting with furrowed brows debating himself. Imagining two Troys on his shoulder, he imagined one in a rainbow outfit who talked effeminately. A living stereotype, the type of gay man that was in every teen drama show. On the other shoulder was the way he presented himself in high school, an overly masculine jock who guarded his emotions as if his life depended on it. Gay Troy would argue that he has always been into guys and just never admitted it, pointing out his ‘thing for butt stuff’ and always mentioning the way he felt around Abed. Straight Troy would tell him to man up, get over it, that he was just overthinking things, even sometimes suggesting that Troy should stay away from his friend and wait for this to blow over. Troy knew neither of the “mini Troys” were real and for the most part just offensive manifestations of the stereotypes he’s grown up hearing. But as time went on they just got louder and louder. He didn't want to be either, he didn't want to be a stereotype but how could he not be? Wouldn't he become completely different if he was gay?

He started to wonder how he would be if he never met Abed, would he live happily as a straight man for his whole life? He doubted it but maybe Abed was just the exception. Would he have found another man who would make him feel like no woman had ever made him feel? Troy doubted that too, he started to think that if he had never met Abed he would never understand what it would feel like to love someone. To want to be in someone's arms for the rest of his life, to enjoy someone's company so much that he could barely imagine life without him. But Troy hated thinking about this because thinking about it made it real. Thinking about it meant that Troy wasn’t straight. Thinking about it meant that he would have to confront his feelings. And Troy didn't want things to change. He wanted to live happily in blissful ignorance like he had for so long. 

So Troy did the one thing he thought would make him stop having a mid-to-midlife crisis and got a girlfriend. Britta liked him, and he liked her back, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that he didn’t want to be in a relationship with her. But he ignored it. He ignored that his feelings for Abed were getting harder and harder to shut out. He ignored that nearly every time they kissed, for a split moment he would imagine he was kissing Abed instead. Thinking about how soft Abed's lips would be, how much more natural kissing would feel. He ignored that after they started dating Troy realized that one of the only reasons he was dating her was so that people wouldn’t start to realize just how unsure of his sexuality he was. He was thankful that Britta was okay with taking things slow because most of the time he could not bring himself to kiss her. Even when things started getting more serious it was as if his mind left his body, as if he was on autopilot.

He laid in his bed in what used to be his and Abed’s dreamatorium. He was on his back, the blanket just above his stomach, Britta laid on her side, her arms wrapped around him. Troy didn’t want to feel the way he did. Truly, he wanted to love her, he didn’t want to hurt her, but he figured there wasn’t really a good way to tell a friend of four years and current girlfriend, “Hey, sorry, I started dating you because I’m in love with someone else, and I was hoping I’d like you more once we started dating,” and he didn’t want to lose a friend, or even worse, the whole study group. He wished he still shared a bunk with Abed, he wished this room was still a dreamatorium and he could spend the rest of his life in a simulated world with only his best friend. But this room was now his alone, a bed that he often shared with his girlfriend completely erasing everything that made this room so important to him.

Troy was exhausted though. He was tired of lying, tired of trying so hard to maintain the persona of who he thought he had to be, tired of being in love with someone he hasn’t even given himself the chance of having. And the more exhausted he got the harder it was to keep up the whole act of being in a relationship. He remembered Jeff once mentioning that they do nothing together like a couple, and he was right, they were hardly a couple. They kissed sometimes, held hands in front of the group because Troy felt they had to, and when they started having sex Troy realized there was no emotion in it. A few years prior he probably wouldn’t have cared, he probably would’ve just thought to himself, “Score!” because that’s what people do. But now that he had truly felt love, although it was love from a distance, just going through the motions of a relationship just made him feel gross, guilty even. Troy thought that nothing would make him feel as guilty as he did thinking about Abed, but trying not to think about him was twice as bad.

He looks down at Britta, feeling awful for dragging her into this. Knowing that deep down he would never be able to have a serious relationship with a woman, knowing that he essentially just squeezed his way into the first relationship he could because he thought it would cure the thoughts that roamed his head. He knew this was probably one of her most healthy relationships and was terrified for her to find out it was built on a lie. And Troy started to cry, something that happened much more frequently than he wished. He was a loud crier too, something that ashamed him even more than just his emotional vulnerability. He slowly unwrapped Britta’s arms from around him and sat covering his face with his hands. Britta snored slightly and her arm laid limp where Troy had moved it. Thankful that she was a sound sleeper, Troy went out into the living room. He was sniffling and wearing only a pair of blue plaid boxers, he saw the digital clock read 3:17 a.m. They only used digital clocks in their apartment because Abed didn't understand analog ones much, he always explained that he was just gifted in other ways. Abed. His mind always went back to Abed. He made his way to the couch, sitting down, hugging his knees to his chest, and resting his face into his knees. He didn't want Britta to wake to the sound of him crying. So the living room seemed like a much safer place because Troy didn't want to have to explain the reason why to the self-proclaimed 'basically a therapist' and Troy knew that he was not great at lying. At least he had a hard time with lying about stuff he actually understood.

He started to think about what might happen if he told Abed how he felt. His mind swarmed with questions. Does Abed feel the same? Would they even be able to date or would it ruin what they already had? How would the study group react? What offensive comment would come from Pierce? What would the kind but undeniably homophobic Shirley say? What would Britta think? Would his parents be okay with him dating a guy? Would his reputation and whole identity change forever? Would he still be able to play football? Why did it have to be me?

And without realizing it, Troy was back to crying. His shoulders shook, whimpers escaped his throat, he tightened his arms around his legs hoping that would provide some sort of comfort.

It didn’t.

And he started to think about how much more comfort he would feel if Abed's arms were the ones wrapped around him.

“Troy?” a soft voice asked. 

It was Annie, she was a very light sleeper, but it was also likely that she was up studying anyway. He didn't want to have to tell Annie because he knew that Annie would try to find a way to fix everything and Troy believed that fixing things for him would just ruin things for everyone else.

Troy tried to tell her to leave him alone but all that came out was a loud breath and the sound of mucus slapping in his throat. He cried a lot but he felt as though this was the hardest he’s actually wept in a long time. Harder than he cried when he found Pierce's mom, harder than he cried when Levar Burton visited him when Pierce was in the hospital, harder than he cried when he watched Marley and Me with Abed for the first (and only) time.

She walked over, her steps were light and Troy remembers Abed once describing her as walking with a bounce to it like a ballerina. Remembering that reminded him of Abed imagining her as a claymation ballerina one year and guiltily Troy started to wish he could just snap out of reality like that, be able to escape the real world for a bit. Annie sat next to Troy and didn’t say anything for a little bit. He figured she was waiting for his breaths to become more controlled because once he was less choked on his own sobs she spoke up.

“You want to talk about it?” she asked, her voice was comforting and she spoke in a tone that gave away that she was running through what things were acceptable for her to say in her head. But also it was obvious that she wasn't going to leave until she got some sort of explanation.

“I don’t know if I can, Annie,” Troy replied, he truly believed that by admitting he would never be able to be the same as he once was. 

“Well… maybe you could tell me about it without, y’know, telling me about it?” Annie suggested with an optimistic pep in her talk. 

Troy sniffs and raises his head up, he doesn’t look at Annie, instead, he looks straight ahead at the black screened TV and thought about how good it felt when it was just Troy and Abed when things were more simple. When he was able to love Abed without feeling as though he was ruining his life. When it easier to chalk up his heart fluttering when Abed looked at him as just a thing that best friends feel.

“I think I made a huge mistake,” his voice was quiet and his tears started to slow, “I thought that getting a girlfriend would like… fix me but I think I’ve just ruined everything.”

It didn’t take long for Annie to realize what he was talking about, she always had some suspicions of Troy and Abed's relationship. It was hard not to have suspicions of the closeness of two friends who held hands, made unusually flirtatious comments, and were generally inseparable. She thought Troy and Britta would be cute together. She had essentially played matchmaker with them but only after a conversation with Troy saying he was, “Definitely 100% absolutely straight and into chicks,” but she now realizes that playing matchmaker with Troy and Britta may have just made things worse for both of them. She thought about the day she spent with Abed in the dreamatorium after sending the couple to Senor Kevin’s for lunch. She thought about Abed’s predictions about how Troy and Britta’s date would go, and although it wasn’t accurate, Annie figured Abed had already known that Troy wouldn’t be able to have a relationship with her. Abed always seemed to notice things about people even before they knew it themselves.

“There’s nothing wrong with you Troy…”

He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, “Look, Annie, there’s no point in comforting me when you don’t even kno-”

“You’re gay, Troy,” Annie abruptly stated. Everyone essentially knew that already, at least heavily suspected it. Troy's interest in women always seemed more aesthetic than anything, and more often than not it seemed more like his advances towards women were forced like he was trying to prove something. 

“Wha-”

“Troy, you know I’m right, there is nothing wrong with you, you don’t need to be fixed,” she put his hand in between her two hands, “It’s just who you are Troy and I know you’re scared of that and I _know_ all your friends from Riverside High probably made it harder for you to come to terms with but-”

“You don’t know that I’m…” Troy found it harder and harder to pretend anymore. Annie layed it out in front of him so easily, as if it wasn’t as awful as Troy’s brain made it seem, “I can’t be-”

“Look, you can’t keep pretending Troy, look at yourself, you’re miserable,” 

Troy looks over at her and his tears pour abruptly as if a stream was running down his face. “I-I don’t know what to do, I hurt Britta and I do-don’t want to lose her,” he was choking on his words, “Everyone will hate me, Abed doesn’t even like me back, you’ve heard how Pierce and Shirley talk about gay people, and Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t real crazy about it either-”

Troy was spiraling. Everything he was terrified of suddenly seemed much more real.

“Troy do you want to spend the rest of your life lying?” Annie’s voice was more stern but not at all cruel. 

“...No”

“Then listen to me, who cares what Pierce and Shirley might think at first, we are a family we will always support each other, and you can hate me if I’m wrong but Abed- Abed loves you Troy I think everyone can see that,” It was true, everyone noticed that Troy and Abed’s relationship was much more than best friends, everyone noticed the looks they gave one another and how differently they acted when they were apart. Nobody ever wanted to say anything because Troy had always insisted on his straightness and nobody really understood Abed enough to decisively come to a conclusion on his feelings.

“I don’t want everything to change… I don’t want to hurt Britta or have people think less of me… I just- I wish it wasn’t such a big deal…”

“It doesn’t have to be Troy, you can make it as big of a deal as you want it to be, you can take as much time as you need, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do there's no checklist on being gay,” Annie smiles at him, “And I’m sure Britta will understand it’ll take more than a breakup to destroy our group, we’ve been through a lot together,” she moves her hands and brushes off the tears on Troy’s face that had just about stopped almost as quickly as they started, “And you don’t have to tell Abed anything if you’re not ready to but you guys would be sooo cute together,”

Troy smiled softly, “Thanks Annie,”

“Anytime, I love you guys if you ever need help just ask!” She stood up and started to head back to her room, “And you should get some rest we have a history test tomorrow,”

Troy hummed tiredly in response and started to fall asleep on the couch. He thought about all the movie nights he and Abed shared there and he started to come up with a plan for how to come to terms with his sexuality himself but also figure out how to break the news to the six people he loves in his own way. And as he imagined a life where he no longer had to hide, where he could kiss the person he really loves, Troy started to drift asleep.


	2. Undeniable Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a late-night realization, Troy realizes he has to figure out how to confront his feelings for Abed without ruining things with his friends or forever destroying his friendship with his girlfriend, Britta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was much harder to write than I thought it would be and took longer than I was expecting but I'm hoping you all enjoy it :)

Waking up the next morning was rough. When he woke up he just stared blankly at the ceiling trying to remember first where he was and second what happened that landed him on the couch and third how the fuck did he let  _ that _ happen. Not only the aches of sleeping curled up on the couch and the pounding headache from crying so much were tormenting Troy, although they definitely didn’t help. But Troy felt like he was suffocating on… well, every emotion possible. Now that Annie knew that he was in love with Abed, it became all more real, he didn’t want it to become real, he wanted it to stay a fantasy in his mind where nothing could go wrong, where spending his life with Abed wasn’t something that could make people hate him. After kicking himself out of his own thoughts he started to hear that other people were awake. Music was playing from the shower, it was The Pixies, so it must be Britta. Hearing the toaster pop Troy sat up and saw Annie in the kitchen with a plate full of Eggos. Troy’s body is creaking as he stands up but he makes his way to the kitchen anyway.

“How are you feeling?” Annie asks, not looking up.

“Fine,” Troy replied his voice was quiet and a bit harsh. He was trying to forget everything that had happened and he knew that talking to Annie wouldn’t make that any easier.

“You can’t just pretend like last night you didn’t completely breakdo-”

“Nothing happened last night, okay?” he pleaded. He felt a lump in his throat. 

Annie just gave him her sad doelike expression and opened her mouth to respond when another voice presented itself.

“What happened last night?” It was Abed.

Troy jumped, Abed was the last person he wanted to see during this conversation. He was wearing his regular pajamas and his hair was messy and Troy couldn’t help but feel a tightness in his chest staring at him.

“You’re basically naked Troy,” Abed pointed his finger between the two of them, “You guys better not have started having secret sex-”

“Abed!” Annie exclaimed.

“Just saying it never ends well, have you ever seen Sex and the City or The Sopranos or How to Get Away With Murder or-”

“Abed, I’m not sleeping with Annie that’s gross,”

Annie did her signature offended gasp which Troy returned with scrunching his face slightly with a look of slight disgust.

Abed made a calculating look at him, where he tilts his head slightly to the left. “Better get pants on before your girlfriend gets out of the shower, either way, wouldn’t want her thinking you’re spending your nights with someone else,” Abed grabbed a few waffles off the plate and walked back to his room.

Troy sighed and covered his face with his hands. He couldn’t stop thinking about how cute Abed looked even when he was accusing him and Annie of having an affair. He knew that the infatuation he had with Abed was definitely not easier to deal with after confessing to it.

“You’re a mess, Troy,” Annie said.

“You don’t have to tell me that,” he sighed, “Just please pretend like I didn’t say anything yesterday, it’s not important,” he gulped loudly, “I was just… lying,”

“Troy-”

He walked back to his room and shut the door a little more forcefully than he intended. 

Instead of just getting dressed like he was supposed to, Troy just sat on his bed crisscrossed. His mind went blank and he just stared at the wall. He felt separated from his body, from his life, from  _ Troy. _ As if it was some foreign creature sitting in his bed and he was just floating around beside it. Was this just an effect of exhaustion? Was it astral projection? Or was Troy’s mind just trying to escape the reality of his current situation? Although Troy wasn’t in a state where he could actually answer those questions, it was definitely the latter.

There was a weight off his chest that had been growing since the second he realized he was gay, but now that the weight was gone and he had nothing to keep him grounded, he was just lost and distant. 

He must have lost track of time because after what seemed like a split second Britta came into the room.

“Hey,” her voice was soft and Troy was almost certain she knew something was wrong and was waiting for the perfect moment to ‘therapize’ him. 

She was still just wrapped in a towel from her shower. Her hair dripping and leaving dotted trails where she walked. Troy found himself focused intently on the drops on the floor than being aware of anything else about his surroundings.

“Is it okay if I get changed?” She asked, grabbing some clothes she had crumpled up in the corner of his room. They probably hadn’t been washed in weeks, but she was unbothered by that.

“Yeah, whatever,” he sounded distant. He didn’t really acknowledge a single word she was saying and didn’t realize what she was doing till she removed the towel in front of him which quickly snapped him out of his trancelike state. 

“Oh! Ew!” he exclaimed before covering his eyes with his hands. He felt like a child the way he was hiding like this, it really shouldn’t be a big deal but it just feels… wrong… even more than before.

“Really Troy? Is it really that big of a deal to see me naked? I literally told you I was changing,”

“I didn’t think you’d have your boobs in my face!”

“Not like it’s the first time,” she responded with a smug face.

And with that Troy’s mind was racing yet again and he started to miss the abysmal feeling he had before. He was worried he had offended her. He didn’t want her to think that she wasn’t attractive, because she was, but Troy didn’t feel the way he should. 

“I’m not in the mood,”

“Oh! No! I wasn’t trying to… I just need to get dressed,” she explained followed by the sound of her dancing around to put on jeans after a shower.

“Not that I just,” Troy just sighed feeling defeated, he really didn’t know what he was thinking at the moment, and trying to explain it would just dig him in a deeper hole, “Sorry I-”

“What’s going on Troy…” she sounded generally concerned, which only made him feel worse.

“Nothing,” he drew the word out far too long anyone would be able to tell it was a lie, but Troy wasn’t exactly known for being a good liar. 

“As a licensed psychology student and a loving girlfriend, I can help you with anything,” 

Troy winced when she said girlfriend and was glad that his face was still covered. 

“I’m tired and I don’t want to do  _ this _ today,” Troy wasn’t entirely sure what  _ this _ was but he felt it to be the truth.

Maybe _ this  _ was a relationship. Maybe it was his infatuation with Abed. It could’ve meant being himself. Or more accurately just generally living what felt to be a lie. Troy wasn’t sure which one, if any, was more true, and he wasn’t dying to dig through his head to find out.

She sat down next to him on the bed. “I’m dressed, you don’t have to hide your face anymore,” she told him softly. She was used to comforting Troy but normally he was upset over things like accidentally listening to “Come Sail Away” by Styx, seeing sad movies, or just because someone else was sad. Troy was emotionally vulnerable but he never seemed… as damaged as he seemed right now. 

He put his hands down and just looked at his lap. “I don’t know what’s going on with me Britta, I don’t get it,” 

“Maybe you’re just stressed, you know in psychology we were learning about some guy named like James Lange and his theory or something and basically-”

“I’m going to get ready for school… can you, like, leave or something…” 

“Oh,” she sounded slightly hurt but Troy felt like if he had to hear her try to explain what he was feeling with some fancy words from her class he would go crazy. “Yeah, just talk to me later okay? Love you?”

“Mhmm,” he responded staring blankly at the wall yet again. 

She left his room and he could hear her making small talk with her roommates before leaving completely soon after. He sighed, he felt bad knowing that he probably made her upset, it’s not what he wanted to do. One of the reasons he was so upset was because he had to figure out how breakup with her without hurting her, but he was hurting her anyway. 

As he got dressed for school he attempted to figure out what he was going to do. Should he confess to Abed or break up with Britta first? Should he say it in person? What should he even say? Does he tell her he’s gay? No… he doesn’t want to call himself that… at least not now. Not yet.

He was done getting dressed but he needed something to do, if he wasn’t doing  _ something _ he would lose his mind. He started to pace but soon realized it wasn’t helping him at all.   


He walked into the kitchen and grabbed an Eggo waffle from the plate eating nearly half of it at once.

“You guys know that we have plates, right?” Annie exclaimed. 

Completely ignoring her Troy went over to Abed who was now sitting on the couch putting some fidget toys in his bag.

“Abed, can I talk to you?”

“Of course-” before Abed could say anything more Troy basically yanked him by the sleeve to his room.

Abed stumbled along to Troy’s room before shutting the door. Troy sat on the edge of his bread and Abed stood adjacent to him.

“I need to break up with Britta,”

“So I was right about you and An-”

“No! No, I-” Troy sighed, “I’ve been trying to make things work with Britta but it doesn’t work because I’m not-”

Abed sits down next to Troy and waits for him to finish his sentence but realizes soon after that Troy wouldn’t say it and it wasn’t hard for Abed to figure out what Troy was trying to say. 

Abed never had a best friend, so for a long time he had assumed they just acted like typical friends but after comments from the study group and people coming up to him asking if he and Troy were a couple or not, Abed knew their friendship was much closer than most. Abed liked Troy, he already saw him as someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Abed had a tough time deciphering between romantic and platonic attraction though, he was always open to the idea of dating Troy, he thought they would be the perfect couple, but he was okay with being his friend too. At least he was more okay with it before Troy started dating Britta. But Troy always said he was straight, and Troy doesn’t lie, so Abed believed that maybe they were just destined to be best friends. But Abed couldn’t deny that he was elated by what Troy was telling him.

“So you are gay?” Abed said, “I mean of course I’m fine with it I’m not exactly straight, I don’t really understand the whole labels thing honestly, but you just always said you were straight so,”

“Yeah I was kind of lying,” Troy lied back onto the bed. “That was easier than I thought…”

Abed turned to face Troy and crisscrossed his legs, “I’m not really the type of person to have huge reactions to things, it’s sort’ve my gimmick, but if you want something more I can react like people do in the teen dramas Annie watches,” He raises his eyebrows and frowns a little bit and starts talking in an exaggeratedly upset voice, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! I thought we were best friends!”

Troy responds with an exaggerated voice, “It’s not about you! I needed to do this on my own!” Breaking character, Troy smiles at him and laughs a little, they stop the scene and after a brief moment of comfortable silence Troy speaks again, “I’ve been trying to pretend like I’m not… gay for a really long time,”

“And now you have to break up with your girlfriend and figure out how to tell everyone,”

“Exactly,” Troy sounded relieved. He sat back up and crosses his legs across from Abed, “I don’t want to hurt Britta or make a big deal out of it at all, at least not now,”

For the first time in years, Troy felt free, as if he wasn't playing a character in his own life. He was nervous for the future but things finally felt like they'd get better. Because now he had Abed with him, and Abed always knows what to do.  


“Since TV only recently started including gay character stories I don’t have a ton of advice but from what I have watched I think it’s best to do it sooner than later otherwise there will be some sort of dramatic scene where she walks in on you kissing the guy you’ve been pining over and there’s a ton of crying and-”

Troy looked down and chuckled, “It would be pretty awkward for Britta walking in on me kissing you,” As soon as he said it Troy wanted to hide. He really wished his brain was further from his mouth sometimes.

Abed turned towards him eyebrows raised, “Like I said earlier cheating never ends well and it’s a way too common trope in shows already especially with gay characters for some reason… But once you break up with Britta,” Abed looked down and smiled, he didn’t genuinely smile much but when he did it made Troy’s heart melt. “Let’s just say I’m glad you’re not straight,”

“Can you help me come up with a plan to break up with her? I don’t know what to do or even if I can do it myself,”

“Well… our third anniversary of watching Freaky Friday together for the first time is coming up...:”

And Troy smiled wide. He still felt guilty and confused but he knew that now he was on a path of finally being himself. And he would have Abed by his side the whole time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this piece, I was really hoping to make it longer than it turned out so I may end up revising in the future if I'm hit with a pang of creativity. Please feel free to leave feedback I appreciate it a lot. (my tumblr is @3hourlunch)


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